


A dog or a hero.

by The_last_trans_hero (Megaytron)



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Backstory, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Haki (One Piece), Pre-Canon, Pre-One Piece Canon, Speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:55:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28569606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megaytron/pseuds/The_last_trans_hero
Summary: In an alternate timeline, we look at the backstory of Monkey D. Dragon, head of the Revolutionary Army and the Most Wanted man in the world.
Relationships: Monkey D. Dragon & Monkey D. Garp
Kudos: 7





	A dog or a hero.

**Author's Note:**

> The following story is a work of fan fiction, based on my interpretation of character development and certain events in One Piece.

Our story begins long before Monkey D. Luffy set sail for the Grand Line, or even before he was born. It begins before the execution of Gol D. Roger, and before even, Monkey D. Garp obsessively chased him around the world. It begins, as stories often do, with a young man sitting on the beach, staring out into the promise of the great beyond.

From behind him, a large figure approaches and sits next to him, and together they watch the ocean for a while. The boy asks his father, “do you really have to go?” The father laughs heartily and punches the boy on the arm, lightly but still hard enough to send him flying. “Of course!”, he bellows, wiping his nose with a massive finger. He's a marine captain now, and he's needed to keep order in the world. If he doesn't leave, pirates might hurt innocent people, and that's what the world government exists to stop! Young Dragon rubs his arm and shyly approaches Garp. “Can I come with you?” he asks. Garp places a gentle hand on the boys head and chuckles. “Not today,” he responds, “but someday… If you grow up to be strong like your old man, you can join the marines and sail the world with me!” Dragon nods and wipes away a tear. “One day!” he shouts at the top of his little lungs, “One day I'm going to protect the innocent just like you father!” Garp looks down at him proudly, and kneels. The two share an embrace for a moment before Garp leaves his boy to dream of his future.

Time passes, and Dragon, driven by his desire to protect the world, trains. He practices his combat skills, familiarises himself with military strategies, and reads up on anything he can find about haki, the mysterious power that makes people from far and wide speak in awe about his father. And on his 15th birthday, Monkey D. Dragon signs on the dotted line and takes his rightful place amongst the great heroes of the world, the Marines! Despite his quiet dislike of the uniform he quickly excels at training, but unfortunately he is held back from promotion due to his failure to blindly follow his commanding officer's orders. This comes to a head during an incident where Dragon assaults a captain for striking a citizen, and removes his hand in a rage… a captain named Morgan.

Seeing his strength and passion, but disapproving of his failure to obey orders, the Marines want to expel Dragon, but a certain vice-admiral volunteers to command him instead. Seeing no alternative, the marines make Dragon a cabin boy on the ship of his father. Their mission: chase a dangerous pirate with a curious similarity to his name, and bring him to justice.

These years were the best of the Monkey family's life. Together as father and son they travelled the world, protected citizens from danger, and bonded as best friends. They met many people, ate mountains of delicious food and saw many different places, experiencing a full picture of the world in a way that few men other than pirates ever do. Dragon never met the bloodthirsty pirate with the same middle initial as him, but he did see the destruction he occasionally left behind. It sickened him that people in the world could wreak so much destruction, and further strengthened his resolve to protect the world. However, when he communicated this to his father, Garp would just laugh at him and tell him to relax. Their orders were to capture Roger, so that was their only priority.

They were close to their target when they received the news. So close. Despite all odds their ship had made it to the end of the Grand Line… Roger was somewhere nearby, they knew it. He had nowhere else to run. They could almost smell him. And then the den-den mushi started going peri-peri-peri-peri… and Dragon knew something bad was going to happen.

The voice in the other end was in panic. Mariejois was on fire! Someone had assaulted the home of the Celestial Dragons and was attempting to steal their property! Dragon watched in disbelief as, on orders from the voice, Garp ordered a change of course: the rest of the way to the Red Line.

“Father!” Dragon screamed, “We've come so far! We're so close to him, and you're going to throw it all away? I thought following our order was the only thing that mattered? He's going to get away!”

Garp looks his son square in the eye and coldly commands him to be silent.

“That’s vice-admiral Garp! We're marines boy, not pirates. We have new orders, so we will follow them. Set course for Mariejois!”

There was no celebration as the ship touched land at the Red Line. No comment about the successful circumnavigation of the globe. With the captain and his son seething at one another, the entire crew silently followed the glowing red that lit up the night sky.

Dragon's first experience with the Celestial Dragons was not a pleasant one, but it was enlightening. He quietly watched as they casually berated Garp, a man who without his Marine code, could easily kill them all. And instead of having him chase down this stolen property they were so upset about, they decided to station him in a room within their opulent palace, to guard some sort of secret treasure. Garp humbly accepted his station, and commanded his loyal crew to carry out the other orders: retrieve the stolen property. Kill the thief… a fish named Tiger.

Garp did not look his son in the eye as they parted ways. Was is due to shame or anger? Dragon could not tell. In shock at seeing his beloved father act this way, he did not see the final twist to send him over the edge until it was too late. That property they were sent to retrieve… was slaves. Fishmen. Children. People so similar to the ones he had saved on his journey…. This is what the marines were? This is what he had dedicated his life to? No. This could not be true…

And so, filled with sickness and fury he ran to confront his father. He snuck past many guards, many security measures, to find his father… sitting calmly in an indoor field…. beneath a huge, ugly, gnarled old tree.

“Is this who we are?” Dragon screamed. “Are we slaves to these people too?”

Garp sighed and rose to his feet.

“You shouldn't have come here, son. They won't like that you saw this.”

And that was all Dragon needed to hear.

“Your orders are more important to you than people? The lives of those slaves out there? More important than me? Are you a dog or a hero?”

Garp said nothing. Dragon spat on the ground.

“I'm done with this. I thought we were heroes! I thought we were delivering justice! But it’s all just incidental. It's all just to satisfy them, the people who live here! That pirate we've been chasing… is he even as evil as we've been told?”

Garp grinds his teeth and balls up a fist, and Dragon watches as it turns black, no longer in awe of his father's haki.

“Think about what you're doing, boy. Think about your life. Think about her… if you do this… there's no going back…”

Sneering at the man he once idolized, unknowingly laying eyes on the best-kept secret in Mariejois, amidst smoke and chaos, Monkey D. Dragon thought for a moment about the girl and the son he would never meet…. And prepared to battle the person he had once loved more than any in the world.

“I'm going to destroy this tree. And there's nothing you can do to stop me!”

And Dragon charged. As one day his own son would in a situation not so different to this, he sprinted at full force to pass Garp and get to the prize he was guarding. But on this day Garp would not be defeated. He swung that black fist as hard as he could, and the shock wave from the force that connected with the left side of his son's face gave pause to the entire battle taking place on Mariejois.

Garp tried hard not to shed a tear as Dragon moaned on the ground. Memories of their travels together flashed through his mind as regret surged through him. He knew he was being watched… and at much as it pained him to to hit his son like that, there was simply too much at stake. He couldn't budge from his spot, he couldn't give an inch. The boy would forgive him someday, surely…

“I guess that's it then… this thing is more important to you than me?”

And Garp's blood ran cold as knew had indeed made a mistake. He had hit Dragon too hard. The shock had caused something to fall from the tree… something that was currently sitting in the palm of his sons hand.

“No, don't… don't eat that! You don't understand, those things are evil!”

“I suppose we must have very different definitions of that word, Vice-Admiral Garp.”

But before Garp could say anything else, Dragon disobeyed an order one last time. The blast of wind that followed was something that would change the world.

Lying on his back, Garp opened his eyes, a smile starting to brew on his face. Now this…. This was going to be a real fight. He rose up to his feet cracking his neck, ready to say something tough… except his face fell when he found himself staring at an empty room. Dragon was gone... As was the ceiling…. And half the fruits of the tree. Outside Mariejois… all around the world…. They were falling from the sky.

Garp never saw his son in person again, but something within him shifted after Dragon disappeared. His heart was broken, his commitment to the marines began to falter… and when his lifelong enemy looked him in the eye and asked him to care for his boy… after he said those words; “it's not his fault I'm his father….” Garp couldn't bring himself to say no.

Unbeknownst to the slaves who fled, to Fisher Tiger, to the Celestial Dragons, to everyone except Garp, a revolution began that day. One that began with a son disobeying his father and the random distribution of the devil fruits to the world...

Who knows how it will end?


End file.
